---
title: "What is the difference between a regular bitmap and a nine-patch image?"  
description: "What is the difference between a regular bitmap and a nine-patch image?"  
author: "Hemant Patel"  
published: 2018-01-10  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32775/what-is-the-difference-between-a-regular-bitmap-and-a-nine-patch-image  
category: "technology"  
tags: ["android"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# What is the difference between a regular bitmap and a nine-patch image?

What is the [difference](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/398/difference-between-object-type-and-var-type) between a [regular](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/99031/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-regular-jobs-and-entrepreneurism) [bitmap](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/1924/find-image-format-using-bitmap-object-in-c-sharp) and a nine-patch [image](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/216/i-want-to-display-images-into-to-datagridview-one-by-one-taking-image-url-from-database-field)?

## Answers

### Answer by Prateek sharma

a **nine patch** image is a stretchable bitmap which has some certain features. this kind of image has all four corners **unscaled** and edges and centre part of the image is **scalable**.

nine patch image is a standard .png file and stored in **res/drawable/** directory of your project. the image has an extra 1-pixel black border which is considered as the stretchable section of the image which is in the top and left part of the border whereas other parts are indicated as the white or transparent.

in your image, a user can have any number of stretchable section as the relative size remains the same. if these images are used in the **background** of the text these are automatically fit to the text.


---

Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32775/what-is-the-difference-between-a-regular-bitmap-and-a-nine-patch-image

Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.